Separator



Sept. 3, 1940.

o. G. LAUER SEPARATOR 2,; Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 18, 1938 INVENTOR. 0J'Cav 6. Laaev ATTORNEYS.

Vila cum Patented Sept. 3, 1940 Oscar G. Lauer, Grand Rapids, Micln, assignor to Grand Rapids Blow Pipe & Dust Arrester 00., Grand Rapids, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Application April 18, 1938, Serial No. 202,588

2 Claims.

The present invention relates to separators and more particularly to a device for purifying air in an industrial plant.

The primary objects of the instant invention are to provide a device of the general character above indicated having an air intake provided with a water spray head for bathing the air passing therethrough and into the separator; to provide such a device having a Water tank supplied with water from the spray head in which tank dust and other foreign matter extracted from the impure air is deposited; to provide such a device Whose tank has an overflow pipe whereby floating impurities extracted from the incoming air and settling on the surface of the water within the tank may be carried out through the overflow conduit; to provide such a device having a sludge conveying escalator within the tank for conveyor settled sludge therefrom; to provide such a de vice having a revolving fan through which the air is drawn for preventing the passage of foreign matter therethrough which has failed to settle Within the tank; to provide such a device having a bailied grill whereby the air drawn therethrough is ridded of its Water content and possible additional foreign matter; to provide such a device having an apertured head for effecting a substantially uniform diffusion of the air as it is drawn through the separator; and, to provide such a device which is highly utilitarian and efficient in use, relatively simple in construction and economical in manufacture and in operation.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a central vertical sectional View of the separator;

Figure 2 is a sectional view thereof on line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view on line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view on line 4-4 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a top plan view of one of the revolving fans on line 5-5 of Figure 1;

Figure 6 is an enlarged sectional view on line 66 of Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a sectional view on line 1-1 of Figure 1. I

Referring then to the drawings wherein like parts of the separator are all designated by the same numerals in the several views, a housing here shown as generally rectangular in form and having side walls It], end walls II and a top I2 is provided With a Water tank whose four walls I 3 (Cl.18325) I are disposed angularly downwardly toward each other? This tank is provided with a drainage conduit M having a manually operable valve I5 for controlling the flow of water from the tank through said conduit and it is likewise provided with an overflow conduit NS for controlling the water level within the tank. The lower end of the overflow conduit communicates with the drainage of a suction fan 83 disposed within the air discharge conduit 23, is disposed above the water level within the tank which is supplied with conduit I below the valve l5 and the upper end Water by the spray head 2i within the air intake *20 conduit 18 and which air thus drawn into the separator is bathed by the spray 22 from the Water spray head.

A sludge conveyor 23 is mounted adjacent. one inside end wall of the tank for conveying sludge settling therein out of the tank which conveyor may be power driven as by an electric motor, not shown.

A vertically disposed shaft 24 mounted adjacent its opposite ends within the bearing 25 supported by the top I3 and Within the bearing 36 supported by apertured plate 21 is provided at its upper end with a pulley 28 revolved by the belt 29 carried by the pulley 30 on the shaft 3l' of an electric motor 32.

A fan generally designated 33 is fixedly secured and suspended from the lower end of the shaft 24 and below the downwardly angularly disposed partition 33 whose marginal edges 35 are upwardly flanged and secured to the inner surfaces of the side and end walls It], II. This fan 33 is provided with a plurality of arcuate blades 36 (Figure 7) axially disposed interjacent a pair of horizontally disposed spaced heads 37, 38 and air drawn between the blades of this fan during rotation of the fan l9 and traveling upwardly through the opening 39 in the partition 34 as is indicated by the arrows is purified and cleansed of foreign matter which has failed to settle within the tank. The current of air through the sepa- A second fan generally designated 40 is fixedly secured to the shaft '24 above the plate 21 and below the downwardly angularly disposed partition id whose marginal edges t2 are downwardly flanged and secured to the inner surfaces of the side and end walls iii, M. This fan 40 is in the form of a drum closedat its bottom by the web 43, partially closed at its top by the ring 44 (Figures 5 and 6) and Whose convoluted vertical wall is provided with a plurality of spaced axially disposed interstices 45 Air drawn through these interstices during rotation of this fan and traveling upwardly through the opening 46 in the partition M as indicated by the arrows is further purified and cleansed, the smaller particles of impurities being repelled by this fans convoluted vertical wall and by the agitation of the air adjacent thereto.

An air baflling grill t'l having tortuous pas sages of the character best shown in Figure 4 is disposed above the partition 4! for ridding the air of its water content and of possible additional impurities and an apertured plate 48'is disposed I above this baffle and below the top l3 for effecting a substantially uniform diffusion of the air as 'it is drawn through the separator. A substantially uniform low pressure area is maintained above the apertured plate e8 by the fan 59, and

thus upward passage of air is substantially equal through each of the apertures in the plate 4% and is consequently substantially equal through each of the tortuous passages in the grill 41.

In operation, impure air drawn through the air intake conduit it into the separator and emitted through the air discharge conduit '20 by means of the, suction fan i9 is initially bathed bythe spray 2i emitted by the spray head 20. The greater portion of foreign matter carried by the air thus drawn into the separator is caused either to settle on the surface of the water within the tank from which it passes therefrom through the in constructionand economical in manufacture and in operation and while but one specific embodiment of the invention has been herein shown and described, it will be understood that certain details of the construction shown may be altered or omitted without departing from the spirit of this invention as the same is defined by the following claims.

I claim: 1. A separator comprising a housing, a water tank within the housing, an air intake conduit from the air and forcibly propelling said matter into the water in the tank, a rotatably mounted fan disposed above the water level in the tank whose blades are so disposed that air travelling through the separator is caused to travel between said blades and the impurities in said air are repelled by said blades, and a baffle disposed above the water level in the tank through which the air is caused to flow during its travel through the separator.

2. A separator comprising a housing, a water tank within the housing, an air intake conduit leading into the housing and having its inner end disposed in a downward direction for eifecting direct impingement of the intaken air against the surface of the water in the tank, an air discharge conduit, means for inducing a flow of air through the separator, a water spray head within the air intake conduit for bathing the air drawn therethrough and for supplying the tank with water,

said spray head being so arranged that water therefrom is directed downwardly into the water in the tank for collecting foreign matter from the air and forcibly propelling said matter into the water in the tank, a baffle disposed above the water level in the tank through which the air is caused to flow during its travel through the separator, and an apertured plate disposed above baflle for effecting a substantially diffused flow of; air through the baffle.

OSCAR LAUER. 

